Smarter cars could mean fewer crashes

An ambitious new safety system is being developed by the government, universities and automakers, and Consumer Reports, a staunch advocate of stronger safety features for drivers for eight decades, is impressed. Instead of protecting against the aftermath of a vehicle crash, the system is designed to prevent vehicle crashes from occurring in the first place.

Here's one way the system can help drivers: Imagine that you're approaching an intersection at 30 mph with a green traffic light ahead. What you can't see is that another vehicle coming in on the cross street is about to run a red light. In a typical car, you would enter the intersection and most likely be slammed by the other vehicle, which could seriously injure or even kill you. But in this car, a prominent red warning light flashes on the dash and an alarm blares, giving you time to hit the brakes before entering the danger zone.

That is one of several crash scenarios that this system can prevent. It allows cars in the same area to communicate with one another over a wireless network, exchanging data about each vehicle's speed, location and direction of travel. With that information, the system can determine whether a crash is likely and warn drivers to brake. In more advanced designs, it can even brake the car if a driver doesn't respond quickly enough.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), such a system has the potential to help drivers avoid or minimize up to about 80 percent of crashes involving unimpaired drivers.

In addition to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, systems also are being developed that allow cars to communicate with roadside infrastructure, such as traffic lights, and work and school zones. Taken together, the technology now often is referred to as V2X.

Two of CR's staffers got to experience V2X technology firsthand. One drove eight V2X-equipped vehicles from different automakers at one of the NHTSA's driver clinics in Alameda, Calif., to see how the technology helps in scenarios such as passing on a road when there's an oncoming car, detecting vehicles in a car's blind spot and avoiding a driver who's running a red light. Another staffer got to see Ford's Intelligent Intersection in Dearborn, Mich., and how vehicles communicate with traffic signals as well as other vehicles.

Overall, they both came away impressed with the systems' potential safety benefits. Implementing V2X or connected-vehicle technology on a mass scale is still several years away, and it will need to address concerns about privacy and cyber security.

HOW TALKING CARS CAN PROTECT YOU

• Intersection assist. When you approach an intersection, it alerts you if another vehicle is traveling at such a speed on a cross street that it could run a red light or stop sign and hit your car in the side.

• Left-turn assist. When in an intersection, it alerts you if there's not enough time to make a left-hand turn because of oncoming vehicles.

• Do-not-pass warning. When driving on a two-lane road, the system warns you when a vehicle coming in the opposite direction makes it unsafe to pass a slower-moving vehicle.

• Advance warning of a vehicle braking ahead. The system emits an alert when a vehicle that's two or more cars ahead in the same lane — and possibly out of sight — hits the brakes unexpectedly. This can help prevent a rear-end collision.

• Forward-collision warning. A warning will sound if the system detects that you're traveling at a speed that could cause you to hit a slower-moving vehicle in the rear. It also will give you advance warning of a stopped vehicle in your lane that you may not see.

• Blind-spot/lane-change warning. When traveling on a multilane road, this illuminates a warning light when a car is positioned in your blind spot. It also emits a loud beep if you activate your turn signal when it's unsafe to change lanes.

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